


im chasing your tail lights

by subtlyhaught



Category: The Young and the Restless
Genre: F/F, Its 3am again and i have feelings, Mention of abuse, There is no abuse though nothind happened, These are my new loves have fun, warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 19:32:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11584716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subtlyhaught/pseuds/subtlyhaught
Summary: "All my favourite things about him are my favourite things about you."





	im chasing your tail lights

3 in the morning was no time to be knocking on someone's door, Mariah decided. 

The redhead had been sleeping away peacefully just moments ago, happily dreaming of nothing (all she could remember was a pair of green eyes really, but she couldn't match a name to the hues so she let it slide) when she was harshly shaken awake, thanks to the frantic pounding on her front door.

So, delirious and disoriented as she was, Mariah hauled herself out of bed and down the stairs into the houses mainspace. The knocking hadn't ceased much, save for a couple of pauses that Mariah could only think to describe as anxious. 

"If you're selling something, someone, or yourself, 3 in the morning is not the right time." The redhead grumbled, swinging open the door and hoping beyond hope that the person on the other side was getting ready to leave her alone.

Instead, she found herself staring at Tessa.

The green eyed girl looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown when Mariah laid eyes on her. Her hands were kneaded together, anxiously clenching and unclenching, while Tessa herself was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feat.

Mariah drank in her appearance quickly, barely registering that the white and gray flannel Tessa was sporting was none other then the one Mariah had leant her earlier that week. 

The girls stared at each other for a moment, neither quite sure how to react. 

Eventually, Tessa cleared her throat. 

"Can I.. can I come in?" She said, her voice softer then usual, almost like she had intended to whisper. 

Mariah jumped then, still rather unfocused from her 3am wake up call. "Yeah," she answered gruffly, her voice rough and gravely and dripping with sleep. "Yeah, of course. Uh-" she stepped aside a bit, gesturing with her arm at the rest of the house. "Come in. Make yourself at home."

And with that, Tessa had hesitated for the briefest of moments, before stepping into the living space. 

Mariah watched her with tired eyes, not bothering to look at the door as she closed it. The redhead would be the first to admit that she had never gotten any previous 3am visits, so the protocol was completely foreign to her. Should she offer her guest some water? Ask if she was safe? Who knew. 

Eventually, Mariah settled on just plainly stating what was on her mind.

"Tessa," Mariah began, watching as the girl in question turned around rather sharply, to watch her. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?" The freckled girl tried to speak slowly, keeping malice out of her voice to let Tessa know that was she wasn't mad, just curious. Still, her voice was riddled with sleep, so the rasp that laced the sentence made it a tad harder to understand the intended tonality. 

But Tessa seem unfathomed, her features actually slackening considerably. She opened her mouth to speak, paused, shook her head, then furrowed her brow a bit and opened her mouth again, the smallest of smiles playing her lips.

"You sound soft," 

Mariah would've liked to say she felt taken aback by the comment. Would've liked to say it didn't make her heart swell, that it didn't make her lips stretch into a sleepy smile, that it didn't make her want to ask Tessa to say it again, just to hear her voice. 

But instead the redhead took a couple of steps forwards, letting the smile the words had caused to rest on her lips. 

"Is everything alright?" She hummed, concern now starting to embed itself into the corners of her smile, the knitting of her brow. 

Tessa stared at her for a moment, letting herself suck in a breath as if she were bracing herself. 

And then;

"I don't like Noah."

The room was silent. Which, looking back on it, really wasn't much of a feat, considering there were only two people in the room. 

It took Mariah a couple of tries to actually form a complete sentence. Her mouth had opened and closed a few times, but no coherent words had formed yet. Her throat felt dry all of sudden, but she wasn't quite sure why. 

"But," she croaked up, clearing her throat a little before continuing. "But I thought things were going so well?" She finished, rather awkwardly.

And then Tessa was pacing. 

"Yeah I thought so too but-" she paused, wringing her hands together as she walked, making a noise that almost sounded like a groan. "There were just, things that he did and-"

"Did he hurt you?" Mariah said immediately, trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes to look Tessa up and down more attentively, looking for any sign of injury. 

Tessa turned on her heel abruptly, eyes wide, a slight panic in them. "Oh god no. No no no, Noah's been nothing but sweet to me." The raven haired girl said, shaking her head a little before resuming her pacing. "It's just, he does these things like- like he crinkles his nose and and and the way he says some things and he always picks up his mug with two hands, and I started to notice a pattern-"

At this point Mariah had crossed the distance between herself and Tessa, her eyebrows crinkled together. "Hey," she muttered, cutting off Tessas ramblings. "Hey, look at me." 

Tessa stopped her pacing, green eyes glancing up to look at the redhead shyly. 

Mariah heaved a sigh, took another step forward, and reached out to take Tessas hands in hers. "It's me," Mariah murmured, echoing the dark haired girls words from earlier that week, running her thumbs over Tessas knuckles. "Tell me."

It took a minute for Tessa to open her mouth again, being coaxed into talking by Mariahs gentle touches. "Those... they're all.. they're all the things I really like about him. My favourite things. I love the crinkle, I love the way he holds his mug, I love the way he phrases questions, his fearlessness, his openness and..." 

Tessa cut herself off, bowing her head now and refusing to meet Mariahs eyes. The redhead, however, wasn't having it. She dipped a finger under the green eyed girls chin, gently lifting her head until they were face to face. "Is loving those things bad?" Mariah breathed, eyebrow quirking.

Tessa nodded a little, pressing her lips together momentarily, before speaking. 

"Those are all my favourite things about you." Tessa murmured, now looking Mariah dead in the eye. Mariah watched her now with baited breath. She could feel Tessas hands shaking in hers, saw the waver of her bottom lip, hear the fear in her voice, and all it did was break her heart.

"I think," Tessa began again, her voice nearly a whisper now. "The only reason I'm with Noah, is because I can't be with you."

And again, the room was completely plunged into silence. Mariah was watching Tessa with newly awakened eyes, blinking slowly as she took in the raven haired girls words. 

A moment. Two. Then;

"Who said you couldn't be?"

Tessa looked back up at Mariah so quickly, Mariah feared she had given herself whip lash. Her eyes were so wide, so intense, the redhead found herself drowning in them.

(They reminded her of a dream, she wasn't sure why.)

"Devon?" Tessa breathed, hoping against hope that Mariah had already left him. 

Instead, Mariah shook her head a little, eyes softening at the concern in Tessas voice. "Let me take care of him. God knows he's been itching to crawl back to Hilary." The redhead muttered, adjusting her grip on Tessas hands as she spoke. 

For a moment, neither girl did anything. And then Tessa was beaming, positively beaming, and Mariah was unsuccessfully stifling a laugh. It took all but two seconds for the girls to collapse into each other. 

Mariah held Tessa closely, letting herself run her fingers through the girls dark locks as Tessa just glomped her arms around Mariahs waist. It felt right. It felt warm.

It felt like home.

And then, just a hoarse whisper to break the euphoric victory silence;

"Stay?" 

It was Mariah, her voice once more coated with sleep. 

She felt Tessa nod in her arms, felt a hand tighten around her waist, felt the minute sigh of pure joy escape Tessas lips, until finally; 

"There's nothing I'd like more."

**Author's Note:**

> on tumblr as @i-said-oops and twitter as @ThisMeIsReal so go yell at me over there


End file.
